Firewhiskey and the mistletoe
by Theunnamedpony93
Summary: This is a story about disappointment, loss, new-found love and bliss that came after.
1. Who we are

She woke up to a crow of a rooster. _Way too early,_ she taught. She felt a bit hangover from the night before, when she tried to connect with her sister once more. It did not go very well. _Does it ever?_

Her sister despised her ever since they found out Lily was different. Whether it was from sheer jealousy or rather from the fear of unknown, she never figured out.

But every summer, when Lily got back from her school, they tried doing something together. This year, it didn't help, that Petunia brought her boyfriend with her – the event was a catastrophe. He considered himself a proper person, did not drink much, did not talk much and wasn't exactly funny – taking Petunia with him and making Lily unable to express her funny side.

Vernon Drusley was, well, a person, 21 years of age, not really tall, but not short, with inexplicably short neck and quite a strong hairs over his upper lip, to which he referred to as 'his magnificent moustache'. To Lilys opinion, it mostly made him look like a walrus, especially combined with his overweightness.

Turning to the other side in her bed, Lily started felling the hangover headache and the soreness in her eyes. She forgot to count the shots of whiskey the night before and crying herself to sleep in the evening (or was it morning already?) didn't exactly help.

She had been crying a lot lately – she had some friends at Hogwarts, but the best friend she ever had, had abandoned her that spring. They were both aware of their differences since the day they first started the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but they only enhanced up until that nice and sunny day by the lake, when her fellow Gryffindor James Potter, again, for no special reason other than boredom, attacked Severus. As always, Lily tried to help. Not only because it was her duty as a school perfect, but also because she didn't like public shaming of the first magical friend she met.

»I don't need help from a filthy mudblood like her!«, Severus' shout while hanging upside down rang in her head ever since, when she woke up in the morning, when she ate lunch with her family, when she was taking her neighbour's dog for a walk, when she cried herself to sleep in the evening. At that moment back then, she made a face of stone and pretended it didn't matter – but it hurt like a thousands of red-hot knives pierced right through her soul; not the words themselves (she heard those a lot) but merely it was that her best friend who said them. For five years they defended each other from the poisonous tongues of their classmates and now, it had been over. Friendship that helped her to keep her head up when her sister started to hate her, friendship, that made her happy for more than five years, friendship, that was always there, when she was sad or happy, even when she couldn't take a break from studying for the finals.

The Potter boy, whom she always found extremely arrogant, self-absorbed and in every way possible full of himself, was mad at Severus first time since she could remember. Really properly mad. Maybe he was just trying to win over her affection, or maybe it was his standard belief, or just a really good act to make her fall for him, she was having none of it. She despised the boy from the second school year on – when he started hitting on her. Always attacking innocent passers-by, ruffling his hair and making stupid remarks, all supposedly to get her to like him. The effect, to his and – everyone else's annoyance, was quite the opposite.

Lily slowly got up, looking away from the full length mirror on the wall opposing her bed. She'd lost weight since May and she knew it wasn't healthy, but she kept on avoiding food. It tasted all the same anyway. The clock on the staircase read 6.03 as she headed downstairs to get a glass of water and the smell of bacon and eggs hit her.

»Good morning, beautiful,« said her father pulling her into a bear hug. »Care to eat with me?«

»'K« was the only response she could manage.

»What's wrong with you lately, sweetie?«

»It's nothing, just tired..«

»Are you ill?«

»No, daddy, I'm fine, really.«

»Did a boy hurt you?«

»I told you I never had a boyfriend. Even if someone was interested in me, he was shied away by that Potter boy long ago.«

»So you want to have a boy, but you can't? Is that bugging you, honey? You know you can tell me anything.«

»It's… Well… It seems I have lost a best friend.«

»Who? That Snape boy from down the road? Did he die? He did always seem sickly.«

»Nawh, it's just, we're not friends anymore.«

»But Lily, honey, you can always get a new friend.«

»Oh, dad, you know it won't be the same.«

Knowing she was right, the father only set a plate in front of her and they ate in silence. After that, he left for work and she did the dishes and went back to her room quietly, careful not to wake up her mother or her sister.

She waited for the library to open up at nine and then went out until lunch. _Maybe, if I'm lucky, Marlene, Mary or Alice will come over this week, to get my moods up._

In a mansion, far away from London, a boy woke up. Sun had just started to shine in his eyes through a window, which he forgot to veil the thick red curtains over last night. He didn't mind. Cloudless days were rare exceptions in his area and the morning sun promised a great conditions to play quiddich.

Opening both of his hazel eyes, he jumped out of bed like a small boy, leaving the cushions all over the floor and ran to the next room to wake up his dear brother. He wasn't really a brother as much as a distant cousin, but he lived with the Potters for more than a year and Charlus and Dorea Potter took him as theirs, so Sirius Black might just as well be James' brother.

»Get up Padfood! It's quiddich time!«

A low growling came from under the covers.

»Come on Padfood, you'll sleep when you're dead!«

Sirius turned in his bed.

»Romy the house elf is making waffles with maple syrup?« James more asked than exclaimed, but it worked much better than the previous tries. Nothing ever woke Padfood better than food or a nice bird waiting for him in the common room or an adventure, promising to break rules.

After the said breakfast, the boys mostly played quiddich on a pitch behind the house, enchanted to be invisible to the muggle eye. Which was lucky, as both of them preformed tricks that would send each and every grandmother from the village (AND also James' mother) fainting in horror. As many teenagers, they, too, hoped to be professional sports players after school. For the sole purpose of training, James nicked a golden snitch from one of the broom cupboards in the school. It was also very useful if you wanted to attract attention from mostly every young witch that passed by.

The one he was aiming for (and frankly, everyone in 'probably the entire wizarding world or whatever' knew it was Lily Evans) was absolutely cold. Only responses he ever got from her were an occasional snort, and if he was really really lucky a shoutdown. She second usually consisted of her screaming at him something about what a lousy bullying git he was and of him, smiling goofily and ruffling his hair. Because although he was raised to be confident and had no reason to be shy or ashamed of himself, he somehow always found himself at lack of the words in moments like that. It wasn't talking to a girl that shut him up (because he was an often 'shoulder to cry on' for the birds Sirius went through and he did not have any trouble talking to any of them), but probably the thing that he got turned down every single time he asked her out. They were thought through turn-downs, too, like she would rather date a Giant Squid or adopt a Norwegian Ridgeback and sometimes they hurt, but never enough to make him stop trying to get her attention.

»Oye, mate, focus on the game!« Sirius threw a common muggle ball at James, who didn't even realise his mind drifted of away from the game. »You lost that snitch! What is up with you today.«

»Been thinking.«

»What about? That Evans bird again?« Sirius shoved all of his pearly teeth with a smile. »You're one stubborn bastard, you know? Half the school is at your feet, nearly begging to be snogged, and you are just looking away.«

»It's not as if i hadn't ever had a girlfriend before, Sirius, it's just…. It doesn't feel right…«

»She might take interest now you got Snivelus out of the way.«

James grinned. He didn't really hate the boy, he just teased him because he got to be near Lily, and James didn't.

»I think someone came home…«

Both the boys went to the kitchen, surprised to see that dinner was already served – they probably lost track of time playing quiddich again.

Charlus looked up over the Daily Prophet from under his eyebrows, trying to look fierce or angry or something in-between.

»Look at you two boys, have you been rolling in the mud?«

Truth is, the grounds were still wet and muddy from the showers of previous day, and James and Sirius weren't in anyway different. »We'll go wash up, dad.«

»I have the bathroom first!« shouted Sirius and ran towards the stairs.

»But you always use all the hot water!« James run after him.

Charlus couldn't help but laugh. He loved his son, and he loved Sirius as much as he were his own, but he knew the troublemakers they were, since he was no different at their age. Now, at nearly 60 years old, he missed the wickedness, but he and his wife tried very hard to bring the boys up to be gentlemen. They had no way of knowing, but those wishes were getting through – only slowly and unconsciously.

 **So here's the first chapter. It would be great if you told me whether you like it or not. It's probable I will be rewriting the first chapters later on. English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any kind of mistakes I made. Next chapters will be more dialogues, less describing, I promise. ;)**


	2. The letter

Coming back from the library with a stack of books, Lily found mom in the kitchen making lunch. A rather large, at least a ten person lunch. Lily thought it was unusual so she ran to her room to unload the books and then back down to kiss her mother on a cheek.

»What are you doing mom? I thought you were at work?«

Lily's mother worked in a hospital nearby. For the morning shift she usually left before the father did and almost always came back at two or three in the afternoon. That day seem to be something special.

»Grandma and grandpa are coming over, also Vernon and his parents, I thought you knew sweetheart?«

»Knew what?«

»Well Tuney got engaged last month, we're having a lunch together today to talk a bit about the wedding.« Rosemary Evans smiled one of her prettiest smiles. She was proud of her daughters, one more than the other and, it saddened her very much to know they don't get along well.

»I… She didn't tell me. When is the wedding?«

»In the end of August, so you can attend as well, isn't that lovely?«

»Yeah, mum, it's awesome. Do you need some help in the kitchen?«

»Sure honey, you can make orange juice.«

So Lily started squeezing fresh orange juice. She was mostly quiet until the meal and thought about how alone she felt.

Back again in the mansion, the Potter family were having early dinner. They were mostly quiet, until Dorea asked:

»What have you been up to today boys?«

»Nuuuthin,« both answered with their mouth full.

»We played some quiddich.« added James.

»Yeah, and James here got his daily dose of daydreaming on his broom.« laughed Sirius.

»James! You know you have to stay focused when you're on the broom!«

His father couldn't help but smirk. »Oh, don't worry so much dear, you have seen him fly – it's like he's been born with a broom or something, he wouldn't have fallen off if he was asleep!«

»Still, it's dangerous so high above the ground! What if you lose balance and fall? And what if…?«

The rambling went on nearly until the end of the meal, but Sirius soon excused himself and mumbled about how he had to write a letter to some bird or another, and once Dorea finished her discussion with herself about the dangers at sports, she got up and helped their house elf to clean up.

They only had one elf, and it was well taken care for. Romy, opposed to most house elves, was never abused and was always considered more as a help in doing tasks around the house that James' parents couldn't do themselves due to their usually busy schedules at work.

James and his father remained seated at the table. The latter searched through his pockets until he found a small silver box and then lit a cigarette. He inhaled deeply and let the smoke slowly leave his lungs. It was a nasty habit that James hated ever since he could remember. The other thing James remembered were his father's constant promises he'd quit smoking.

»Dad, you promised you'd stop!«

»I know James, I know. I'm just tired. And stressed a little bit. We're having some trouble lately at work.«

»What kind of trouble?«

»Some minor muggle families disappear from time to time.. It's usually the ones that no one really notices, like an aunt from America that didn't ever manage to come home or some tourists from southern Europe. When somebody does find out they are missing, they usually give up search after a month or so… our people are the ones that find the bodies.«

»They are found dead? By what?« James was interested in his fathers' work ever since he was a child, but didn't usually get the chance to talk to Charlus about it, because his mother deemed those kind of topics inappropriate for the child's ears.

»We think the killing curse, all the signs are there. Or better said, there are no signs, they simply show up dead. But enough about my job, tell me about that daydreaming of yours!« Charlus loved watching his son grow up, although he didn't get the chance to connect with him very often – James liked staying in school at holidays to cause mischief and rarely replied to any owls.

»Only if you put out that cig, dad.«

Charlus sighed and looked at his hand. There was more than a half left. Sighing again, he decided his son was more important to him than a usual evening fix of muggle nicotine.

»So tell me, is it about a girl?« A mischievous smile crept upon his face. A smile, James know best from a look in a mirror. He really was his father's' son. They were both tall, and they both had messy raven hair, almond like shaped hazel eyes, straight, although a bit too large nose and nice full lips. But their real charm was a cheeky, lopsided smile that showed dimples.

»Yeah, you already know about her.«

»Still the same one?«

»Yeah. She's the most amazing thing that ever walked the face of Earth."

"Aren't they all?"

"Well… It doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"She hates my guts. Wouldn't go out with me if her life depended on it."

"You'll get her, you'll see. Just try and be a gentleman your mother and I raised you up to be."

"D'you think she'd want to talk to me 'bout losing her best friend?"

"I don't know, tell me more about it."

"Well she had this friend since before the school started, but he is a Slytherin and acts Slytherin and works with Slytherin. They'd been really good friends up until May, when he called her Mudblood. She acted like she didn't care, but I think it hurt her, I don't know.."

"Try writing her a letter, it can't hurt, can it?"

"But what should I write?"

"Just tell her how you feel about the event, and tell her you are there for her if she needs to talk to somebody."

"Okay dad, thanks." James smiled and ran to his room.

Dorea came from the kitchen, looking as if she heard the whole conversation.

"What'd you think dear, 'bout our boy?"

"Well, Charlus, he's just a teenager, he'll get over her."

"I don't think he ever will, really."

In his room, James threw away about the hundredth letter to Lily. He was never satisfied about how it sounded, so he tried again and again. Giving up, he grabbed a new sheet of preachment, addressed it to Remus Lupin and scribbled in a messy handwriting:

 _Need help ASAP._

 _Prongs_

He took the small piece to the attic, where one or two owls usually stayed. He tied the scribbling to the leg of a tawny owl and she took off as soon it was done. Then he slowly returned to his room and laid down, waiting for the reply.

Turns out he fell asleep pretty soon, because he caught the final rays of the setting sun when the owl's tapping on the window jerked him awake. He let the bird in and untied Remus' reply.

 _Dear James,_

 _I have been planning to visit during summer, although not so soon. As you didn't specify what kind of help you needed, me and Wormtail are coming over tomorrow morning._

 _Best wishes, Moony_

The lunch at Evans house was much quieter than a normal wedding planning. Both the families agreed at the cold starter already, that Evanses would pay for the reception and decorations and the Drusleys would pay for the food and the drinks afterwards. Not even Lily's grandparents said much, although they were usually the most talkative people to have around.

After the Drusleys left, grandma pulled Lily into a hug.

"You've changed so much since I've last seen you. Have you lost weight on purpose?"

"No, nana, I haven't been feeling myself lately, but I promise to eat enough of healthy food, starting tomorrow morning."

"That's my girl. But what's the matter dear, what's bugging you?"

Lily loved her grandmother with all her heart, but she didn't want to explain everything all over again, so instead of telling the whole story, she just said:

"I'm don't know nana, but I'm sure it will pass."

She decided to start reading one of the books she brought home from the library and went upstairs to her room, only to find a brown owl sitting on her window shelf, looking annoyed.

"Hey beautiful," she let the owl in and untied a short message from its leg. It read:

 _Hey Lils,_

 _We just wanted you to know we are coming over next week to hang at your place. There are no excuses, you will just have to bear with us._

 _Love from Alice, Marlene and Mary_

 _P.S. Prepare for a great sunny holyday afterwards ;)_

She smiled at the letter, turned it around and wrote in her neat handwriting:

 _Hey girls,_

 _It's always a pleasure having you over, see you next week._

 _Love, Lily_

And so began the fantastic summer before 6th year of Hogwarts. Bound to be full of adventures and less adventurous events, Lily knew she wouldn't be bored. She also knew that she will slowly get over the loss of friendship with Severus Snape and she might even find a love this summer. Who was there to stop her?


	3. A summer getaway

James didn't get much sleep that night. He tossed and turned until about 3 in the morning then faded to restless sleep. He got woken up at 8 by Romy's announcement that the friends arrived. Telling the elf to go and wake up Sirius, he got out of bed and ran downstairs to eat breakfast with Remus and Peter.

Remus looked a bit beaten up possibly from the last full moon, which unpleasantly happened the first day of the summer break, when Remus was at home and didn't have his friends to help him through the night. The potion his mother brewed him sometimes helped a bit, but it needed some adjustments to actually work as intended.

Peter on the other hand, gained weight in the last two weeks if it was possible. His mousy hair was neatly combed into a parting down the middle of his head, which didn't do him any favours, so James quickly messed it up at the first occasion he got.

"Moony, Wormtail, breakfast?"

Sirius joined them soon later mumbling something about taking too long to reply.

"What was that?" teased Remus.

"That bird, McKinnon wrote to me last week."

"Which one? Marlene? The one that's always around Lily?" James lightened up.

"Yeah, I don't know, I always felt McKinnon was the centre of the group, or whatever."

"What did she say?" asked Peter quietly, while still trying to straighten back his hair the way it was before.

"Something about going to seaside to get Lily's mood up or whatever. I think we were invited with, but she took long enough to reply, I don't think I want to go anymore."

James thought about it for a few seconds. If the girls really invited them over, he'd get to spend a few days with Lily relatively alone and maybe he'd even get the chance to talk to her.

"So James, what help did you need?" asked Moony after finishing his pancakes.

It snapped James out of obviously deep thoughts. "It's um… uh… Well I really wanted to write a letter to Lily, asking her how she was, and telling her I can be there for her if she wanted to talk to someone about, you know, about what happened."

"You could have written that in a letter James!" Remus laughed a bit.

"Well I also needed you two to come over so we'd make a bigger quiddich team! One on one gets boring really fast, you know!"

"About the letter, I'm not sure if it isn't better to leave it alone, but if you really feel you have to write her something, you should really just ask her how she is, she is as simple as that."

Remus was the one of the group that Lily always seem to be getting along with. They were really only friends, and it seemed to have come to it completely naturally. It confused James to the point he was sometimes envious and angry. The thing is, no person could ever stay angry at Remus Lupin, as he was nothing but nice and friendly, hard-working at school and a really great companion, although he had a problem only a few people knew about. He was a werewolf, and that meant a painful transformation every month to a vicious creature, that would kill any person in its way.

His friends soon figured out why the boy had disappeared every single full moon and why he always showed up badly beaten, so they took up some extra transfiguration training and managed to become animagi. At first it was difficult, but once they mastered the transformation, nothing stopped them from roaming around the Hogwarts grounds with their wolfy friend.

After breakfast, James went to his room and finally wrote that letter to Lily.

 _Dear Lily,_

 _I understand if you don't want to talk to me, but I saw you get hurt that May next to the lake. If you wanted to talk to someone about it, or maybe needed a shoulder to cry on, I just want you to know I'd always be there for you._

 _Love, James_

The worst thing that could happen was probably a reply about how he was arrogant and how he used someone else's misfortune to get what he wanted, but he was used to that kind of answers form her and although they still sting, it was worth it.

Lily couldn't wait to see her friends. First to come over to her house was Mary, who was half blood, and had father to drive her around by car. They were an interesting family. Mary's father never minded her mother being a witch, and when she told him, he said that he always kind of knew. There were three children in family – both of Mary's brothers already finished Hogwarts and were traveling the world.

Mary was a cute brunette with blue eyes, not fat and not skinny, not really tall and not exactly tiny either. Her hair was almost waist length and she always wore it braided. She was moderately smart, quiet girl and in any other way possible the one you wouldn't notice, but was the only one in a group of four, who had a boyfriend. Lance just finished Hogwarts that spring and went on to be a healer at St. Mungos.

Marlene and Alice arrived together, side apparating with Alice's mother.

Marlene was the tall one, wearing her black hair always so short they only covered the ears. She was slim but not skinny, always the first one to get noticed in the group. Also being the most talkative and able to connect with anyone, she was the one to get into flings all the time. It was never serious and it never lasted more than a month, but that never got her down. Marlene was always really keen on getting Lily and James together – perhaps even more that James himself. She quite often described their relationship as 'Sparks are traveling in every direction, they would light something on fire if they weren't in such a horrible horrible denial'.

Alice was the pretty blonde with shoulder length hair and large baby blue eyes. She was smart, quiet and popular and everyone knew she fancied Frank Longbottom.

And Lily, well, Lily was the smartest one. She loved studying, she loved laughing, she loved her friends. She wasn't short and wasn't tall, but had thick long dark red hair wonderfully fighting mesmerising green eyes. She had always been slim, but somewhat curvy. And if you asked James Potter – absolutely the most gorgeous girl that ever walked the planet.

"Anyway," started Marlene, "We'll be going to get some tan tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, that, where are we going?" asked Alice.

"Well, my brother apparently got himself an island, and said we can have it for the summer or whatever."

"And how are we getting there? How long will we be staying?"

"Ah, Lily dear, until we get you well fed, tanned and happy again, no matter what it takes!"

The three girls laughed, but Lily only smiled a little. "You can't just make me into a good mood you know?"

"Oh yes we can, you'll see. Oh by the way, can I use some of your parchment? I got mine packed at the bottom of a trunk all the way down by the sea. I need to write a letter."

"Sure, you know where my room is."

So Marlene went up the stairs, and started writing:

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _We're off tomorrow morning, planning to be down by the sea about a month. You should all come to visit us. If convenient. But if inconvenient, come anyway. There will be party._

 _XOXO, Mar_

Wrapping the thing up, she noticed an owl at the window shelf. _How… convenient,_ she thought. She let the owl in and switched the letters.

As Lily read the letter she got from James, she was more confused from letter to letter. Alice, who was looking over her shoulder commented on what a sweetheart James was to pay so much attention.

"Well whatever, I can't believe a single word he wrote, if it even was him. Why would he want to talk about anyway?"

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "You know he's been dying to date you since he was, like, 12, and it hadn't changed much since?"

"Well, how do you know he's not just trying to get me in bed like all those other girls?"

"What other girls?" Marlene's eyebrow raised a little bit higher. "James Charlus Potter did have a kiss or two, but other than that, never as much as a fling, believe me, I have tried."

"Well maybe he wouldn't do that to you, because he knows you're my friend and I would curse the brains out of him if he hurt you, but I don't trust him because he is arrogant, self-absorbed little rich boy! Look what he made Sev say!"

This time Mary started talking. "Lily, you do know that's not James' fault. Snape just got into the wrong kind of group, you two were bound to drift apart as soon as you were placed in different houses."

"Yeah Lils, Potter might be a prat sometimes, but that's not a reason to blame him for everything bad that happens."

Lily rolled eyes. She loved her friends, but since forever found it extremely annoying how everyone tried to get her to like James, when he was just a giant, big-headed bully. She wouldn't want to date a guy like that if her life depended on it.

At the Potter manor, Sirius was very happy to report, that they were all leaving the following day to see how many fish were they really in the sea. James felt a bit reluctant about the whole thing, since he didn't get Lily's reply (which was the second worst thing that could have happened), but was still happy that this summer will be a bit different. Convincing his parents was never that hard, when he promised he'd write home from time to time.

 **You wouldn't believe, but that's actually the farthest I have ever gotten in a story, and I have another two chapters ready to re-read, so yaay for me! I possibly need a beta, so if anyone is interested, please PM me.**


	4. Firewhiskey

»What do you mean you can't swim?" Alice, Mary and Marlene learned very soon, that getting Lily to actually engage in seaside activities will be much more difficult than getting her to come with. In fact, even getting her in a bikini proved to be as hard as getting an acromantula to dance ballet. Lily's parents were always well off enough to live in a large house near London, but never as much as to take both their daughters to a holiday somewhere so warm, you actually had to wear a bikini or fancied a swim. So normally, Lily felt way too exposed to wear just bra and panties when girls got to the island the next day.

Turns out that Marlene's older brother didn't buy the whole island (which was enormous), but a single house right on the beach. It was a cute seaside home with four bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen connected to a large porch extending into the sea, making it a smallish dock. Because nights were incredibly cold, every bedroom had a fireplace, but because none of the girls knew how to light a fire, they decided to sleep all in one room, to make it warmer.

On their third day there, they went to a nearby village, since they ran out of food. Marlene and Mary went shopping for some exotic fruits and booze, while Lily and Alice (who actually did the cooking) the food and simple kitchen supplies. They got back together after an hour to walk back to the seaside house together.

"You girls won't believe what we found!"

Lily squinted her eyes. If Marlene was so overexcited, it could only mean she got to break some rules or another. "What did you find?"

"Oh, you silly suspicious you! There is that wizard shop at the corner of the village, whose owner was so happy to see another wizard, we got to buy four bottles of firewhiskey even though we are underage!"

"Well that's a surprise!" even Lily smiled. They might have some fun now no one is around to pressure them.

After their lunch that consisted of watermelons, pineapples and papaya, Marlene opened a bottle of firewhiskey and started pouring shots.

"Here's to us!"

"Here's to the best holiday in life!"

"And here's to finding true love!"

After the fifth shot, first bottle was empty, Mary went to get some rest on the porch in the shadow, Alice went to write a letter (though she refused to tell them who it was intended to) and Lily and Marlene stayed at the kitchen table.

Lily sighed. "I'm going to sweat my brains out…"

"You should wear a bikini, it's so much better!" Marlene laughed. The girls did get her a black and green bikini swimsuit before they departed. "You have seen it in the village, everyone else walks around in swimwear!"

"Yeah I saw… maybe I'll give it a go…"

Lily made her way to the main bedroom and Marlene did the washing.

Fishing her bikini from the bottom of her magically enlarged suitcase, she threw it on a bed, then just watched it for a minute or so. Her head was beginning to feel dizzy because of the firewhiskey and she felt enthusiastic about the moment. She took off her pants and pulled on the completely black bikini panties. Alcohol started to get to her, so she sat down and pulled off her top. Just as she was unsnapping her bra, she heard a racket. With a horror in her eyes, she turned to face the fireplace. She found herself staring into a pair of familiar hazel eyes.

Both, James and Lily, at once jumped and turned around on the spot.

"Sorry!"

Lily shouted: "Marlene, there is APOTTER in the fireplace!"

She heard from the kitchen: "A what?"

"A POTT…" and in the next second, there was racket in the fireplace again, and Sirius and Peter jumped out, only to break James down on the floor.

"What the… Prongs, why are you facing towards the fireplace, have we miss… Oh dear…"

In all the mess and the noise, the door to the bedroom opened, and Marlene and Mary's head poked through. Only a few seconds after that, Remus came flying through the fireplace.

The situation was a bit comic – Lily was sitting on the bed, covering her chest with the bed sheet, James laid on his back, not a metre away from her, covering his eyes with a palm of his hand, Sirius just getting up, totally uninterested in the naked girl, to say hello to the heads hovering through the doorframe, and Peter confusedly looking from one to another, while Remus was just becoming aware of the ash covered situation and slowly looking away, hoping to preserve some decency.

"Ah, you guys are here already, that's great, d'you want some firewhiskey?" Marlene somehow forgot to act surprised in her slight intoxication. "Come on, let's get out of the bedroom so Lils can finally get dressed in peace!"

"Yes please," said Lily quietly, her voice about a notch and a half higher than usual and her face tomato red. It's not that she'd been embarrassed, it was the sheer surprise that got to her.

From the other side of the door she could hear Sirius talking.

"Take a moment to spy upon the great Prongsie, for the first time in forever at a loss of words, you may never see that again…"

Quickly pulling on the bikini top and a loose shirt. She couldn't bear being so naked in front of so many people at once.

On the other side of the door, James was slowly recovering from a shock. For something he'd been longing to see for so long, it really frightened him. He was scared she'd be angry now, scared she would be even less interested in talking to him. They moved from the kitchen to a porch, and the view was wonderful, and it was hot as in hell, but he somehow forgot to fully enjoy it. He wanted to go back to the moment he stepped out of the fireplace, but could not imagine he'd act any different.

A few firewhiskies got him going. He changed to his swimming trunks, then he and Sirius grabbed Peter and ran with him into the sea. They were both excellent swimmers, so they took turns in keeping Wormtail's head above the water. Remus joined them much later, while mumbling something about the sun being too hot.

Lily was nowhere to be seen till nearly sunset. That's when Remus, who was, as usual the most sober of the group, decided, he should talk to her. He found her back in the main bedroom, fully dressed and sitting on the bed rocking slightly back and forth.

"Hey, are you okay? I'm really sorry about earlier, we should probably announce when we would be arriving."

She was still looking down, and he noticed she was crying. He sat down next to her really slowly and put an arm against her shoulder. She leaned in – she'd always been friends with Remus. She liked the way she could talk to him about anything, how he could calm the other three Marauders down and how he didn't totally freak out and stop talking to her when she confronted him about being a werewolf.

What he loved about her was that she was always such an open – minded person, how she didn't shy away like most did when they find about his condition and how she was prepared to fight for what is right with all she had. He always thought she was amazing but he only ever thought of her as a friend, which was probably the only reason they got along so well – he never had an ambition to date, and even if he would, this case would have broken James in pieces. He couldn't do that to a friend he needed so much.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

She started sobbing, and when she managed to catch her breath, she said "It's nothing…"

"Well it must be a pretty large nothing, because you never cry just for any nothing." He pulled her closer into a hug.

When she caught her breath again, she started: "It's just… I feel so alone. First it was Tuney, then Sev, and now Marlene seems to have a party she failed to mention…"

"You're worried because James is here?"

"No… well not exactly. I'm just so furious that nobody would even ask me how I felt about all this. If I wanted anyone else around."

"But you don't want James to be here?"

"No."

"Well why not? He wouldn't hurt you if his life depended on it, and he can be really useful to have around. When we were younger, his parents would always take us four camping the muggle way. He and Sirius would always argue about who would get the fire burning in the evening." He laughed a little, and even Lily let out a chuckle.

"He's not the bad guy he wants everyone to think he is. He's really nice once you get to know him, maybe you should try."

Lily managed to calm down a little. "I don't know, Remus… what If no one likes him anymore if his head gets suddenly deflated?"

They both laughed.

"Frankly Lily, as long as he'd have you talking to him, I don't think he would really care."

When they got out of the bedroom, Sirius and James were both in kitchen, semi – drunk, arguing over a frying pan, evidently full of something, that could be scrambled eggs. Remus stopped by to help them make dinner and Lily just went ahead to the end of the porch, where her three friends were sitting. She sat down, her fingertips just reaching the water, and hugged the wooden fence.

"Where have you been the whole afternoon?" Marlene asked right away.

"Just… Sleeping away the shock… You should have told me they were coming."

"I'd just get you in a bad mood."

"You got me moody anyway, what was the point?"

"Well, you are now currently really not taken since you decided to ditch Severus, I thougt maybe you needed a new male companion." Marlene smirked.

"Yeah, because that would have solved all of my problems, right."

"And besides, we will be needing company, because Mary here is ditching us first thing tomorrow morning, because apparently, Lance got a week off his training and she's desperate to get shagged. And Alice has some urgent family business she needs to attend."

"So this was all just a trick to get me in the same house with Potter even when I have holidays?"

Alice started: "Look it's not like that, I really wanted to stay, and I promise I'll be coming back right after the event, but I have no choice but to leave now."

Mary was just quiet, leaning on the other side of the fence. She never took alcohol very well, and Sirius was never the one to stop pouring.

"So when are you leaving?"

"Molly will come to pick me up in about half an hour. I don't know when I'll be back."

Half an hour went past all too quickly and Alice was gone. Mary decided it was much more convenient if she left with Alice's sister, so now it was only Lily, Marlene and the Marauders.


	5. I can't swim

Next few days were dragging way too slowly by Lily. With Mary and Alice gone, she was left with Marlene, whom she was still a bit angry of, Peter, who blushed fiercely every time he got near her, Sirius, who teased now and then whether she felt like getting naked again, Remus who was actually nice for a small talk and lastly, James, whom she avoided as much as possible. By the end of the week, they needed to go shopping again, and Marlene 'made a mistake' of telling Sirius about the booze shop. They came home loaded with enough alcohol to last them their entire lives.

Although Lily swore she'd be sober that day, Sirius started pouring shots at 10 in the morning, right after they finished their breakfast of ham and eggs.

By noon, Lily was drunk enough that walking straight seemed impossible, while the boys, leading by a few shots, still seemed fine. A drunken decision lead Lily off the porch and into a small forest of pines right next to the house. She sat in complete silence on a sandy beach in the shadow of the trees for a few minutes, then heard the steps approaching.

James Potter didn't feel all too well last few days. It wasn't because he was falling ill, or because he was hungry or bored, but because he had a feeling Lily had been avoiding him, and quite successfully, too – they hadn't spoken a word since he shouted that 'sorry' at her, for seeing her barely dressed.

He knew that wasn't the reason she tried to avoid him and knew he couldn't fix the underlying problem. He saw her talking to Moony a lot, smiling and laughing with him, and it didn't make him angry jealous but only really sad, empty on the inside kind of depressed.

Seeing her walking off the porch drunken and alone, he suddenly decided it could be a good idea to go after her and confront her about… well, everything.

She was completely quiet. He felt nervous. He never remembered being nervous except before his first quiddich game at the beginning of second year, when he threw up the whole breakfast. After the team won, they praised him like a god and he never remembered having the same problem again.

He moved a few steps forward so he was right next to her. When she was still quiet as a brick, he spoke:

"D'you mind if I sit?"

She shook her head, looking straight forward into the waves breaking on the beach. He sat down next to her, a comfortable distance away and didn't turn his gaze to the sea, but rather tried catching her gaze. With a corner of her eye, she noticed his nervous tic – ruffling of his always messy hair. Knowing she couldn't avoid him forever, she turned to him and looked him directly in the eye, which nearly made his heart stop.

"What's bugging you?"

He ruffled his hair again. "Uh… I…" suddenly his mouth was dry as a sandpaper. "Well… I… was wandering how you were?"

Lily turned her gaze back at the sea.

"I mean, about all that thing back then, by the lake."

"I don't know, I fine I guess, should have seen it coming anyway…"

They stopped for a moment of uncomfortable silence. Lily broke it now.

"And how are you?"

"I'm…" he let out a nervous laugh. "Quite okay now."

She looked at him again. She never thought of him as incredibly good looking, and most of Hogwarts population did, but looking at him now, so out of his usual cocky character, she made space to notice his warm eyes and the way his dark hair curled around his ears and the whole posture, showing just a little muscle definition he probably got from quiddich practices. James Potter sure was a prat and a dickhead in public, but no one in the whole wide world could say he wasn't good looking.

"See Evans, the thing is, a girl like you can get literally anyone to be her friend. It's no use fussing about the one that decided to leave you behind, b'cause you deserve so much more…"

"I got your letter."

"Huh?"

"I got your letter." she repeated. "It's nice of you to try, but you can't help me, you don't understand."

"But I want to understand Evans, tell me!"

"Everyone leaves me behind, my sister, my best friend, everyone! It doesn't sound like much, but it hurts like hell and it makes it unbearable to ever love anyone again."

"I never quit…" James muttered under his voice.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that?"

"I never quit, you know? Ever since I can remember I fancied you. I tried getting your friends into liking me, I tried getting the boys off of you, and since you always hated my attention so much, I just figured you wanted to be on your own for some higher purpose or whatever."

Lily let out a bark of laugh, immediately loosening the atmosphere.

"You remember that time when you sent me a poem via enchanted garden gnome and it said it all wrong? I was so furious at you back then!"

Seeing her smile for the first time since O.W.L.s, James relaxed. "Yeah, and I was so embarrassed I could burry myself into the ground on the spot."

"I didn't think you were really such a git back then, I just didn't like the idea of hanging around a boy…"

"PRONGSIE AND FLOWER ARE TALKING TO EACHOTHER!" They both turned around to see very drunk Padfoot charging at them, or, better say, charging at Lily, picking her up and running with her into the water.

Panic flushed over her. "No no no, Sirius please no, I can't swim, I CAN'T SWIM!"

But it was a tad too late – the ground underwater was shaped much like stairs and Sirius lost footing, making him dive underwater with Lily still in his arms. Getting the head back on the surface, he burst into a laugh – the girl held onto him so tightly, he could count down the seconds until she felt her leg cramping.

"Get me out of the water you – you…"

"See Prongs, it's not that hard, making a bird hang on to you." his smile revealed all of his incredibly white teeth.

James chuckled a little.

"Get me somewhere I can stand you moronic idiot!"

"Oye, oye Evans, such a pretty girl and such harsh words! If James there wasn't watching over you over there I'd have to wash out your mouth!"

Lily just grumbled in complaint, and Sirius slowly swam back to shore.

"You need to learn to swim, Lily flower, you're much heavier than you look."

"Oh shut up, you bastard!"

Right then she noticed James smiling at her, so she kicked water in his direction while shouting "It's not funny!"

"Really Evans, you wanna play that game?"

Still tipsy, he ran towards her, but somehow accidentally managed to make them both fall into the shallow water.

"This is not leading anywhere…" mumbled Lily once she untangled her limbs from under him. "I'm going to get dried off."

James sighed. Everything was so much better now he knew he could talk to her, but was still a bit angry at Sirius for taking her away. They both joined Marlene, who was still laughing, Peter and Remus on the porch and laid down at the end of the dock to get the sun to dry them.

"You're a git you know," James to Sirius.

"Why mate? You weren't exactly shagging your bird over there, what were you going to do next?"

"It doesn't matter, we had a moment!"

"Our little Prongsie is growing uuuup!" singed Sirius. "Okay, I'll stop now, I am a bit annoying sometimes."

"Oy, you two, if you're going to lay on the sun at this hour, you should really use sunscreen!" shouted Remus from the kitchen.

"What's that supposed to be?" Sirius asked James with a raised eyebrow.

"Beats me, Padfoot," answered James only a moment before a heavy tube of cream hit him in the face.

"We're not applying any of this, we're not girls!" shouted Sirius and threw back the tube to Marlene, while still laying down. It hit the window and bounced to the ground, where Lily fetched it later, asking her friend to do her back.

James and Sirius both slowly fell asleep from all the tiredness the heat and the firewhiskey brought.

The evening wasn't as pleasant for the two. Once the sun set and they got woken up by Remus, they were both badly sunburned. Accompanied by the looks of 'I told you so', they went into separate bedrooms each with their own pack of ice.

James heard whispering and laugh from the neighbouring room, which could only mean that Padfood successfully caught the bird he was going for, although the timing was unclear to James. Between wishing there could be something done about the pain and slowly moving the ice pack all over his body, he heard the door open.

"Hey there."

His heart jumped in his chest.

"I've got that, uh… dittany over here, it might help with the burning a bit… do you want it?"

James sat up straight really slowly and accepted the bottle from Lily, which was now sitting beside him on a bed. "Thanks, love."

She gave him an annoyed look.

He tried to unscrew the bottle, but the skin on his arms felt like it was going to burst open.

"Oh, here, let me."

Lily took the bottle back in her hands, unscrewed the cap and poured some drops on his arm. The liquid felt nice and cold and left a magnificent trail of relief when Lily rubbed it in.

"That's… wow, that's awesome! Do you think you can do the rest of me?"

"Yeah, sure, you perv, you, just next time find something else to get my hands all over you, sunburns are really unhealthy," Lily laughed.

"So you want to get your hands all over me, huh," James was getting some confidence around her all of a sudden. The usual cheeky smile appeared on his face out of nowhere.

"Don't make me leave you half unattended to, Potter," Lily warned, but smiled nonetheless.

"Sorry." Unapologetic. He really wasn't sorry, but due to the relief he felt where dittany had taken effect, he changed the theme of conversation. "So… what do you want to do… after, you know… after… we get out of Hogwarts?" he kept his eyes closed and brain strictly focused on the words as Lily rubbed the dittany in the skin of his lower abdomen.

"Oh I don't know, whatever life throws at me. I thought about becoming a healer, much like my mother."

"No offence, but I thought you were muggleborn?"

"None taken." Lily smiled. "Both my parents are muggles, and my mom works as a nurse in a hospital. She isn't exactly a healer, but I can't remember any other job in the wizarding world I could compare to. What do you want to be?"

She was now tending to his face really slowly and gently.

"I've always been interested in my father's job. He's an auror, you know, he searches for people who have disappeared and puts the bad guys in to Azkaban."

Lily was quiet, but he felt her smile with her whole body.

"And done."

The dittany worked perfectly – even the redness disappeared. With the pain gone, he suddenly felt sleepy. The noises in Sirius' room quieted down a while ago, but he somehow forgot to notice.

"Will you stay with me?"

"What, like, for the night?"

"Yeah…"

"No, I don't think so. Goodnight James."


End file.
